Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,628,324 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,131 shares during the period. Fastenal accounts for about 2.3% of Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC owned about 0.28% of Fastenal worth $117,093,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at about $68,000. Finally, Eastern Bank lifted its position in Fastenal by 440.7% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. HSBC cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. William Blair raised shares of Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST stock opened at $75.51 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $75.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.47. Fastenal has a 52 week low of $61.36 and a 52 week high of $84.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.30 billion, a PE ratio of 37.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 4.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is currently 85.57%.

Fastenal Profile

Fastenal Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the wholesale distribution of industrial and construction supplies in the United States, Canada, Mexico, North America, and internationally. It offers fasteners, and related industrial and construction supplies under the Fastenal name. The company’s fastener products include threaded fasteners, bolts, nuts, screws, studs, and related washers that are used in manufactured products and construction projects, as well as in the maintenance and repair of machines.